Received W2 from employer I didn't work for during that period - what should I do?

You're in a common but frustrating situation. You have a couple of options here, but you shouldn't delay filing your taxes indefinitely waiting for a response. First, try one more formal approach - send a certified letter to the company's HR or payroll department explaining the situation and requesting a corrected W-2. Companies are legally required to provide accurate tax documents. If they continue to ignore you, you can report this to the IRS by calling 800-829-1040. The IRS will attempt to contact the employer and may send you a Form 4852 (Substitute for Form W-2) that you can fill out based on your actual income. For your immediate tax filing, if you're 100% certain you didn't work or receive payment during that period, you can file using Form 4852 instead of the incorrect W-2. You'll need to explain the situation and provide your best estimate of the correct amounts (which would be zero for that period). If you've already filed using the incorrect W-2, you would need to file an amended return (Form 1040-X) once you receive the correct information or resolve the issue with the IRS.

I had almost this exact same situation last year and it was driving me crazy until I tried taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai). They have a document analyzer tool that helped me figure out exactly what was wrong with my W-2 and gave me step-by-step instructions for how to handle it. I uploaded my paystubs and the incorrect W-2, and it identified the discrepancy immediately. It then generated a perfect explanation letter that I sent to my former employer (who suddenly started responding once they realized I knew exactly what was wrong!) and it also gave me instructions for filing Form 4852 in case they never fixed it. The tool basically handled all the technical details so I didn't have to become a tax expert overnight. Might be worth checking out since you're in the same boat I was.

I actually tried taxr.ai after seeing the recommendation here and I'm really impressed. I was totally skeptical (as you could probably tell from my comment), but it actually helped me solve a similar W-2 issue I was having with a summer job. I uploaded my documents and it immediately flagged that my employer had put the wrong income amount on my W-2. The system generated a letter template that I sent to the company HR department, explaining exactly what was wrong with references to specific IRS regulations. Got a response within 2 days and they're sending a corrected W-2. The document analyzer also showed me exactly how to report this on my taxes while waiting for the correction so I didn't have to delay filing. Honestly didn't expect it to be so straightforward but it saved me a ton of stress.

If you're still getting ghosted after trying the formal approach, I'd recommend using Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) to get direct help from the IRS. I was in a similar situation last year with an incorrect 1099 and couldn't get any response from the company. I tried calling the IRS myself but kept getting stuck in their phone queue for hours and eventually giving up. Then I found Claimyr and they got me connected to an actual IRS representative in less than 20 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent walked me through exactly how to handle the incorrect tax form and even reached out to the company on my behalf. It completely changed my understanding of what to do when employers send incorrect tax documents.

I have to eat my words. After reading about others' experiences, I reluctantly tried Claimyr for my own tax issue. I honestly expected it to be a waste of time, but I was desperate after spending 3+ hours on hold with the IRS over multiple days. The service actually worked exactly as described. They handled the wait time, and I got a call back when they had an IRS agent on the line. The agent was able to confirm exactly what I should do about my missing tax documents and even put notes in my file about the situation. What would have been another day wasted on hold ended up taking less than 30 minutes of my actual time. I'm still surprised it worked so well, and I've already recommended it to my brother who's dealing with his own tax nightmare. Sometimes the skeptics (like me) have to admit when we're wrong!

Quick question - did you cash a paycheck from them for that period? Sometimes companies process final paychecks weird, especially if you have unused vacation time or other compensation they owed you. That $280 could be something like that which might actually be legitimate.

I'd recommend filing a report with your state's Department of Labor too. If they're reporting wages they didn't pay you, that's a serious issue. The DOL might light a fire under the company to fix this faster than you can on your own.

This is definitely a frustrating situation, but you have several good options to resolve it. Based on what you've described, it sounds like a clear payroll error since you have documentation that you stopped working in November. Here's what I'd recommend doing immediately: 1. **Document everything** - Keep all your communication attempts with the company, your final paystub from November, and any employment termination paperwork you have. 2. **Don't wait indefinitely** - You can file your taxes on time using Form 4852 (Substitute for Form W-2) if the company won't respond. Since you know you didn't work during that period, you can accurately report zero income for those dates. 3. **Try the certified letter approach** mentioned earlier, but also consider escalating to their corporate office if it's a larger company. 4. **Contact the IRS directly** - Call their business and specialty tax line at 800-829-4933 to report the incorrect W-2. They can guide you through the process and may contact the employer on your behalf. The key thing is not to let this delay your tax filing. You have legitimate recourse options, and the IRS deals with these situations regularly. If you end up needing to file an amended return later, that's totally manageable - it's better than missing the deadline while waiting for an unresponsive employer.